Letter from Home-7 (#SOL 2019)

11-02-19
Dear Doddamma,
We went to Maikuri yesterday morning to be with my father-in-law. It takes us two hours by car in the mornings. We had breakfast on the way. My father-in-law will be 94 soon. He is able to do all his work but he finds it difficult to recognize people. His thoughts too are all tangled up. He cannot express what is in his mind and we find it difficult to understand what he wants to express. I feel very sad. Life changes so much as we grow older.

When we go there Kuvara likes to go to the areca garden. He brings the leaves of the areca tree and makes plates from them. We enjoy eating our food from them. Long back areca leaf plates and banana leaves were used as plates. My father-in-law told me once long back, all banana plants died to some reason. There were no leaves and that year steel plates were purchased for all family members. We left at 3 and reached home at 5.30.

Last week we cut a banana bunch from the plant in our garden. The fruits were tasty and our neighbours enjoyed them too. We use the banana stem in our food preparations. As we slice the stem we have to remove the fibres. The stem is tasty and good for health too. We also removed two types of yam. We had planted the saplings many months ago. The tube like one is called ‘mundi gadde’ (Alocasia root) and the round one ‘suvarna gadde’(elephant yam). I have not prepared anything from alocasia root. I will have to see a recipe.

Doddamma, I had mentioned earlier that I listen to the lectures of Bannanje Govindacharya everyday. He is a great Sanskrit scholar. These days I am listening to the episode of ‘ Yaksha prashne’ in Mahabharata. It is very interesting. There is so much that we do not know. I am not sure whether I will be to read so much, so I am listening to these fascinating lectures.

On the 6th my husband went to his cousins’ home to attend a religious function. Their home is about three hours away from our place by bus. He had not been there for a long time and was glad to meet his cousins and their families. He returned in the evening.

Aravinda is busy with his classes. Today evening we went to the park near Venugoplala temple. We walked for half an hour. On our way back we bought grocery from the Cooperative society in our town. We have been buying there for more than three decades.

As I am writing this amma will be with you Doddamma. She has been wanting to be with you for quite some time. I can picture both of you sitting together.
With lots of love,
Lakshmi

(My letters to my Doddamma, my father’s elder brother’s wife, have made letter writing a part of my life again. Both of us enjoy the letters. Doddamma literally means elder mother. She is my favourite relative. She is 88. She cannot go out and is not able to hear well. So, I started writing to her in November 2017. Earlier I used to send a mail to her daughter-in-law, she used to read it to her. My cousin’s wife told me Doddamma enjoys the feel of letters and re-reads them often. I edit the letters and post them in Slice of Life hosted by Two Teachers. I enjoy SOL. We, bloggers live in different parts of the world. Our lives are so different but there is sameness which is fascinating. The different posts and photos bring the world to my home. Thank you dear friends. 😊 )

The Indian diaspora in Mauritius obviously brought many Indian traditions over. Eating from banana leaves was one of the traditions, but as far as I remember, only at weddings and big ceremonies. I don’t think we had much areca. It’s strange but I have not personally come across eating banana stems. Thank you for your letters to your doddamma which always keep me enthralled. SAN